After 65 continuous days flying, the Airbus Zephyr 8 crashes
The Airbus Zephyr 8 unmanned aircraft suffered an accident after a great performance of continuous flight for 64 days and breaking world records. The plane began on June 15, 2022, a flight over the United States, the Gulf of Mexico and South America, which should have ended successfully on August 18, but it did not.
This unmanned aircraft was controlled from the ground by the United States Army (U.S. ARMY) and that, for just over 2 months, flew continuously thanks to a new solar technology that is still being analyzed by Airbus and the US Army.
On August 18, around 9:00 p.m., the plane began its descent for a landing and thus concluded the mission, where approximately 1,500 hours of data were collected from the team that will be used in the future for analysis and improvement.
However, according to ADS-B telemetry data, the plane stalled late in the flight, with a rate of descent in excess of 4,000 feet per minute, after the ground control center lost connection with the Airbus Zephyr 8, which supposes that it crashed in an area in the desert of Arizona.
This information has only been confirmed by the United States Army through a statement. However, the manufacturer Airbus has not issued any position on the accident. Transponder 1200, has contacted the manufacturer Airbus to obtain a future statement.
In the Army statement, it is indicated that the plane had "an unexpected termination" over the United States test field called Yuma Proving Ground (YPG), in Arizona. This complex is considered to be the largest military facility in the world, where most of the army's ground combat equipment and weapons are tested.
The Army also said that they managed to collect and analyze the most important data before the unexpected termination of the flight, in addition to collecting all the information on this platform that remained in flight for so long.
What is the Airbus Zephyr 8?
The Airbus Zephyr 8 doubled the previous record that such a team had achieved. The unmanned solar aircraft has the objective in the future of serving as a platform that provides a wide range of applications, such as surveillance, maritime services, border patrol missions, forest fires, among others.
The Airbus Zephyr 8 is an ultralight aircraft that has the ability to fly in the stratosphere at an average altitude of 70,000 feet. It has a wingspan of 25 meters and weighs just 75 kilograms, making it an ultralight with unparalleled performance.
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